<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>to the children we once were by wlwrwby</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27966092">to the children we once were</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wlwrwby/pseuds/wlwrwby'>wlwrwby</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Child Soldiers, Mentions of Canonical Character Death, glynda goodwitch has a heart, i just realized all of my fics have the child soldiers tag uhh this is awkward, in this house we love and appreciate glynda goodwitch, no beta we die like redheads in rwby</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:01:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,924</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27966092</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wlwrwby/pseuds/wlwrwby</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Contrary to popular belief, Glynda Goodwitch loved all her students. And standing there, in that dust shop where she had met Ruby Rose all that time ago, she knew that she couldn’t let them fight alone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Glynda Goodwitch &amp; Ozpin, Glynda Goodwitch &amp; Ruby Rose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>101</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>to the children we once were</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
Glynda Goodwitch was once just a woman. And Ruby Rose was once just a girl. 
</p>
<p>
Then Ozpin came into their lives.
</p>
<p>
Ozpin, in fact, was the only reason Glynda was in the area that night that Ruby had stopped the robbery. He had asked her to keep an eye on Summer’s daughter and to bring her to him when she was ready. Glynda didn’t quite want to know what that meant. But she had a job to do, so she listened. From a distance, she observed and waited to discover what was so special about this child that Ozpin wanted. She didn’t have to wait too long.
</p>
<p>
When Glynda first met Ruby face to face, she had been young. Too young to enroll in a Huntsmen Academy, if you asked Glynda. But somehow, this kid had taken down a group of thugs with that giant scythe of hers that was all too familiar in design. Then the woman in black left in the ship, and Glynda turned to leave the kid to her own devices. She wasn’t her problem. (Not yet.) Ozpin didn’t have to know about this just yet. But-
</p>
<p>
“You’re a huntress,” Ruby gasped. “Can I have your autograph?”
</p>
<p>
Steeling herself, Glynda turned. She turned and for just a second she swore she saw Summer. Those eyes, that hair, that look of wonder and awe. <em>Those eyes.</em> But it wasn’t, she scolded herself. Summer was dead. This kid, undoubtedly her daughter, was alive and in front of her. And apparently asking for her autograph.
</p>
<p>
And this kid had silver eyes. And suddenly, she knew just why Oz had his eye on her. Ever since Summer had passed, they had scoured the planet searching for someone, anyone, with silver eyes. To no avail. To their knowledge, this kid was the only person alive with silver eyes. And of course, it had to be Summer’s daughter.
</p>
<p>
Glynda really, really hated the Gods.
</p>
<p>
She shook off her brief shock and put back on her stern mask. This was going to be a long night.
</p><hr/>
<p>
As soon as the door closed and they sent Ruby Rose back to Patch, Glynda turned to the headmaster. 
</p>
<p>
“What the <em>fuck</em>, Oz.”
</p>
<p>
Still seated, the man in question took a deep, labored breath. He stared at his clasped hands, unwilling to just yet meet her steely eyes.
</p>
<p>
“I don’t have a choice, Glynda.”
</p>
<p>
She huffed and walked over to be in front of him, forcing him to look at her. 
</p>
<p>
“She’s a child. <em>She’s Summer’s daughter</em>. Hasn’t that family suffered enough?”
</p>
<p>
The man only sighed once more. To his credit, he didn’t break her gaze. “Glynda. We’re so close. This could be it.”<br/>
</p>
<p>
Glynda shook her head. A barely noticeable glint of moisture built in her eyes. Her voice was strained as she said, “I don’t know you anymore,” and slammed the door behind her.
</p><hr/>
<p>
Glynda Goodwitch once knew Ozpin. They were partners at Beacon back in their day and inseparable. Inseparable even after the day he woke up with a voice in his head and the weight of the world on his shoulders. 
</p>
<p>
But she was his best friend, and she loved him dearly. So she stuck by his side. Even as he became headmaster, even as he spoke of things her mind could barely comprehend, even when the day came that he woke up and had aged centuries in a single night. Even when he asked her to do things she never wanted to do in an effort to someday, somehow win this war. Even as he became more and more of a stranger. 
</p>
<p>
Every once in a while, she looked at him and thought she saw more Ozpin than Ozma. She cherished those moments. There were times that he looked at her and gave her that same mischievous smirk he always did in their youth, and she could pretend for just a second that it was all alright. 
</p>
<p>
And, of course, there were times in which she was forced to watch a child and recruit her for this unwinnable war, all because of her eyes. 
</p>
<p>
Glynda Goodwitch once knew Ozpin. Not anymore.
</p>
<p>
When she realized Oz had perished in the Battle of Beacon, she didn’t mourn him. She had already done so years ago.
</p><hr/>
<p>
Ruby Rose was quite the unconventional student. Being invited to attend Beacon Academy at just 15 years of age by Professor Ozpin himself were undeniably strange circumstances. But Glynda knew why. It was because of those damned eyes.
</p>
<p>
It was because of those eyes that he had recruited Summer and Team STRQ, because of those eyes that Summer had died in an unending war, because of those same eyes that even her daughter was not safe from the battlefield. She supposed it would’ve happened sooner or later - either she would’ve become a Huntress a few years down the road, or Salem’s forces would’ve gotten rid of her once they gained wind about her potential. In a way, she knew it was inevitable. But she couldn’t help but regret her part in it all.
</p>
<p>
She wondered what Summer would say to her now. She figured she didn’t want to know.
</p>
<p>
Glynda hated the color silver.
</p><hr/>
<p>
Glynda had only caught a glimpse of Ruby before she hadn’t seen her for another year. She had been across the schoolyard turned battlefield, bruised but still breathing. The same couldn’t be said for some of her other students.
</p>
<p>
She knew from Qrow that she had made it out alive, but not before she evidently saw Pyrrha die and activated her silver eyes. A couple months later, Qrow informed her that he would be shadowing her and the remnants of Team JNPR. She hadn’t heard from any of them since. She didn’t even know if they were alive.
</p>
<p>
Despite how it may seem, Glynda adored her students. She truly did. She wouldn’t be a teacher if she didn’t love her work. She loved working with the next generation of warriors and training them to be the best they could possibly be. She loved watching them grow. 
</p>
<p>
She hated watching her students die. Their profession was dangerous, but the knowledge of that didn’t stop her heart from breaking when years after their graduation she would be informed of their passing. But now? This was far too soon. They were still kids. They hadn’t even graduated yet. Pyrrha...Gods, Pyrrha Nikos. She had advocated for her to become a Maiden. She thought she could handle it, they all did, but Salem was one step ahead of them as she always was. And Pyrrha, only 18 years old, paid the price. 
</p>
<p>
Glynda would rather die if it meant her students would live. If it meant that they wouldn’t have to fight in this Godsforsaken war, if it meant that the man she once knew wouldn’t set his eyes on a few select teams to become his newest pawns. She would give it all up for them.
</p>
<p>
But for now, her job was to rebuild Vale and Beacon. For the day her students would come home. Not if, but when. They would come home. She swore it.
</p>
<p>
She had just been picking up a few rounds of Dust when the broadcast appeared on every screen in sight, the emergency message stopping everyone in their tracks. The screen flipped and there stood...Ruby Rose?
</p>
<p>
Glynda’s eyes widened. Ruby. She looked older. It had only been a year or so, but she looked as if she had aged so much more in that short time. She had changed her hair and uniform and her voice rang more mature. She realized, with a start, she sounded more like Summer.
</p>
<p>
“My name is Ruby Rose,” she told the world. And without a shadow of a doubt, she declared: “I’m a Huntress.”
</p>
<p>
Glynda’s eyes filled with tears, pride bubbling in her chest. She weakly nodded. Yes, yes she was. And she remembered with a soft sob this same girl all that time ago asking for her autograph with pure awe. And she realized that that girl was gone.
</p>
<p>
As the broadcast continued and Glynda realized what she was saying, she knew more than ever that her students were brilliant. As Ruby continued speaking to the world and named Glynda herself as someone who had kept this secret, she realized with a start: <em>They were doing this.</em> After all these years, the world will know about Salem. And the very girl Glynda had brought in was breaking the infinite years’ silence. She knew without a single doubt, her student was making history. Then, if it wasn’t broken enough, her heart shattered with these next words:
</p>
<p>
“But, sadly...General Ironwood could no longer be trusted.”
</p>
<p>
Shit. She knew James had been...paranoid to say the least. Surely, Oz’s reincarnation had to be with Ruby and Qrow, and that could only mean that James hadn’t listened to Oz. He had finally lost his heart.
</p>
<p>
“So even if we - even if Atlas falls, you can’t give up.” 
</p>
<p>
With those words, Glynda sunk to the ground. She knew what Ruby was about to say. Even if she and her team died, even if Atlas fell and brought them to the grave along with it, the rest of the world had to keep fighting. 
</p>
<p>
Suddenly, the broadcast shut off, leaving the entire planet in a shocked silence. The world had never felt so still.
</p>
<p>
Glynda ignored the questioning gaze of the shopkeeper in favor of processing all that had just happened. The world knew about Salem and that Glynda had answers. Oz’s reincarnation was in Atlas with Ruby and Qrow, and apparently at least Blake Belladonna since that seemed to be her voice at the beginning of the broadcast. Ironwood went off the deep end. Salem was in Atlas and the city was under attack. And Ruby Rose had grown up. 
</p>
<p>
<em>“They’re supposed to be defenders of the world,”</em> she had said to Ozpin all that time ago.
</p>
<p>
<em>“And they will be,”</em> he had said to her. <em>“But right now they’re still children, so why not let them play the part? After all, it isn’t a role they’ll have forever.” </em>
</p>
<p>
Now, she realized that perhaps that hadn’t been Oz speaking to her just then. It was Ozpin, telling her that he still wanted them to have a life despite the burden on their shoulders they were still blissfully unaware of. And now, she realized that time had come to pass. 
</p>
<p>
For right now, Ruby Rose was no longer just a child. She was a child with the weight of the world on her shoulders because of the color of her eyes and the war her mother left her behind to fight, because of the Gods and their cruel ways, because previous generations were not strong enough. She was a child who broke the silence on a centuries-long war and knew she might not live to see the end of the fight. 
</p>
<p>
There, in that same shop where she and Ruby’s journey had begun, she sat in awe of the Huntress who would go down in history. Her student. Summer’s daughter. 
</p>
<p>
She abruptly stood and grabbed her scroll, quickly sending an emergency alert to all Huntsmen and Huntresses to get to Atlas immediately, before calling the person she knew without a doubt would join her in this fight.
</p>
<p>
“Tai? Meet me in Vale, I’ll have a ship ready. We’re not letting them fall.”
</p>
<p>
She had helped bring this child into this war. And she was determined to make sure she lived to see the end.
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading! I literally screamed when I saw Glynda again, and when I realized she was in that same Dust shop where it all began I started crying and knew I had to write this lmao. Counting the days until Glynda comes to singlehandedly throw Ironwood off of Atlas and kills Salem herself. <br/>Anyways, thanks so much for reading! My twitter is @wlwrwby if you'd like to check me out there, and feel free to leave a comment or kudos on your way out. Thanks again for reading, and have a lovely, lovely day!&lt;33</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>